Neuroscientists have created an artificial cerebellum
Last reviewed: 23.04.2024
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Scientists have created an artificial cerebellum, which can exchange signals with the brain stem. In the experiment, the mechanism successfully restored the function of the brain in a laboratory rat.
The cerebellum is a part of the brain that receives information from the motor centers of the cerebral cortex and transfers it to the muscles. Through the feedback channel from the muscles, the cerebellum receives information about the tension and position of the body in space. Analyzing all the data, the cerebellum controls voluntary and automatic movements.
The head of the project, Matti Mintz (Tel-Aviv University), analyzed the data that the brain transmits to the cerebellum and the information that the brain receives from the cerebellum. Based on the information received, scientists designed an electronic device on a chip simulating the cerebellum, which was connected to the brain of the rat with the help of electrodes outside the skull. The animal's own cerebellum was destroyed.
Then the scientists tried to form a conditioned reflex in the rat - a blink of sound. The researchers found that when the device mimicking the cerebellum was switched off, the animal could not work out the reflex, and with the included device responded in the same way as the healthy one.
In the future, scientists plan to complicate the algorithms of the cerebellar connections.
Recall that recently, Swiss engineers built a robot to transmit the effect of telepresence, control of which requires only a connected to the head of the user network of electrodes.
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